Ahmed is interested in science and engineering. He makes his own radios, and he showed the homemade digital clock to teachers in his engineering class. He was taken to a detention center for questioning after the clock's ticking allegedly alarmed teachers. Irving, Texas Police Chief Larry Boyd said the clock looked "suspicious in nature," but there was no evidence the boy intended to cause harm at his high school. Boyd further noted that he would have had the same response to the clock no matter a person's faith.

Ahmed appeared at a news conference with his lawyer, family members, and a representative of the Muslim community. "It's really sad," Ahmed said, "that she took the wrong impression of it." He added that he is suspended from school until Thursday and that the incident has made him reconsider whether he wants to go back to school there at all.